Amitav Mallik

Professor Amitav Mallik has been a research scientist in the Ministry of Defence since 1966 and he was among the first in India to develop indigenous gas lasers. After ten years of teaching at DIAT, Pune, as Professor of Electronics, he continued his work on high power lasers and founded the laser laboratory - Laser Science & Technology Centre (LASTEC) in Delhi. As Director, LASTEC his pioneering work in high power lasers put India on the world map of directed energy weapons capability for...See more

Professor Amitav Mallik has been a research scientist in the Ministry of Defence since 1966 and he was among the first in India to develop indigenous gas lasers. After ten years of teaching at DIAT, Pune, as Professor of Electronics, he continued his work on high power lasers and founded the laser laboratory - Laser Science & Technology Centre (LASTEC) in Delhi. As Director, LASTEC his pioneering work in high power lasers put India on the world map of directed energy weapons capability for satellite defence applications. He was awarded the Padmashri in 2002 for his outstanding contribution to defence research and development. He served as the first Adviser, Defence Technology at the Indian Embassy in Washington D.C., during 1988-1994 where he laid the foundation for Indo-US cooperation in critical defence technologies. This led to opening-up of the high-tech US-India cooperation of today. He served as Adviser on the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB) for three successive years from 2003, contributing to strategic security planning and also bringing a new focus on energy and environment security at the NSC. He has authored 5 books, starting with the first on Technology and Security in 21st Century: A Demand Side Perspective for SIPRI, Sweden. He continues to write and speak on national security, strategic technologies and energy and environment issues to help spread public awareness on these subjects. See less